Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology 5(19): 4757-4761, 2013
ISSN: 2040-7459; e-ISSN: 2040-7467
© Maxwell Scientific Organization, 2013
Submitted: November 08, 2012
Accepted: February 01, 2013
Published: May 10, 2013
Measurement Research on Industrial Workers in China
Wang Weixin, Wang Xu, Deng Lei and Gao Jia
College of Mechanical Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
Abstract: The paper studied the factors that made the new generation of migrant workers transform in to the
industrial workers by the questionnaire for them in china. On the basis of analyzing the characteristics of the new
generation of migrant worker groups, the implementation approaches of their industrialization has been researched
from the following four aspects: their on quality, psychological identity, economic base and social environment with
the help of structural equation modle. Measures that transformed the new generation of migrant workers into
industrial workers had been proposed according to the result of this study.
Keywords: Industrial workers industrialization, the new generation of migrant workers, structural equation model
INTRODUCTION
Previously, the study of generation migrant
workers' industrially was generally attributed to the
research of their urbanization. Wang (2011) divided
generation migrant workers' demands into Existence
requirement, Relatedness requirement and Growth
needs, according to the ERG theory of needs. In her
opinion, to urbanization for new generation migrant
workers can meet their needs and she has analyzed the
implementation path about their urbanization. Zhou
(2011) has analyzed the new generation migrant
workers’ urbanization from the point of static and
dynamic sides. In the static perspective, he studied the
influence for their urbanization by human capital, social
capital and the their coupling relationship. On the
dynamic views, he analyzed the influence in
urbanization though evolutionary stable strategy by the
game between new-age migrant workers and
government. And compared with the previous, he
analyzed their urbanization requirement, measured the
degree of inhibition and the degree of public
suppression though the Biprobit Model which is
identifiable for needs. Zhong (2011) in-depth analyzed
the social organization’ capital functions for the trust,
participation and norms, with the social capital theory
as a framework and studied inhabitant route from the
perspective of social organization development. Zhang
et al. (2011) constructed Transformational Index
System from the external environment and their own
circumstances,
quantitatively
analyzed
the
characteristics of their inhabitant evolution and finally
found out the spatial differentiation characteristics in
that evolution. Jin (2011) analyzed the transformational
influence of human capital health status, education,
labor skills from the perspective of human capital.
Huang (2012) made a survey in Guangdong Province
and found that economic demands, protection of life,
equity expression are the comprehensive requirements
for labor power reproduction. Zhong and Chen (2012)
analyzed many problems which migrant workers is
facing and put forward to implement their urbanization
with consummating household registration system, rural
land transfer system, the employment system, a place to
live system for migrant workers in cities, the social
security system, labor training system and urban public
service
system.
He
(2012)
analyzed
the
intergenerational differences about integrated and its
determinants between the first generation migrant
workers and the news and showed that the determinates
is education, income, social capital, migrant purpose
and so on.
In the study, through designing questionnaire for
industrial workers, survival status of those works had
been mastered. This study aims to classify and extract
the factors that affect the generation migrant workers
becoming industrial workers, to find out the main
factors by structural equation modeling, to study the
main factors which affect the satisfaction to become
industrial workers. Finally measures and counter
measures that how to transform to industrial the new
generation migrant workers had been proposed
according to the result of this analysis.
THE PROPOSITION OF VARIABLE
DESCRIPTION AND THEORETICAL MODEL
Variable description: The dependent variable in this
research is the workingman degree of New Generation
Migrant Workers, specifically through a "whether New
Generation Migrant Workers are willing to become
industrial workers" to measure. We extract variables
Corresponding Author: Wang Weixin, College of Mechanical Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
4757
Res. J. Appl. Sci. Eng. Technol., 5(19): 4757-4761, 2013
Table 1: Measurement scales for new generation migrant workers to
industry workers
Measurement Internal Self-quantity
Health state (B1)
scales
factors
Education levels (B2)
for new
Professional skills
generation
(B3)
migrant
Working (B4)
workers to
Psychological
Urban value notion
industry
identification
(C1)
workers
Lifestyle (C2)
Evaluation on the
urban people (C3)
External Economics base Career choice (D1)
factors
Labor intensity (D2)
Living environment
(D3)
Social
Interpersonal
environment
communication (E1)
Social activities (E2)
Social policies (E3)
from questionnaire. B1 represents the physical health of
New Generation Migrant Workers; B2 represents the
education level of the New Generation Migrant
Workers; B3 represents the mastery state of
professional skills of New Generation Migrant
Workers; B1 represents that how many years the
migrant works are working outside. Thus, the variables
above can be grouped into their own quality. C1
represents the urban value notion of New Generation
Migrant Workers in the city; C2 represents the lifestyle
of the New Generation Migrant Workers; C3 represents
the evaluation on urban people given by New
Generation Migrant Workers, the above variables can
be classified as a psychological identity. D1was to point
the choice of career of the New Generation Migrant
Workers; D2 was New-age Peasant Worker's labor
intensity; D3 was the income gap of the New
Generation Migrant Workers; D4 was the New
Generation Migrant Workers’ living environment.
Thus, the above-mentioned variables can be grouped
into economic foundation. E1was the New Generation
Migrant Workers’ Situation of Interpersonal
Communication; E2 was the New Generation Migrant
Workers’ situations of social activities; E3 investigate
the Related Social Policies that New Generation
Migrant Workers want the Government to unveil. So
the variables above can be classified as social
environment. Therefore, this article, by small stylebook
test, cancels some questions of lower reliability and
validity. The corrected measurement scale is shown in
Table 1.
The proposition of theoretical model: Whether they
can become industry workers has been decided by their
own quality, psychological identity, the economic base
and the social environment. Among them, the four
interrelated factors all have effect on the New
Generation Migrant Workers to become industrial
workers. Therefore, this article proposes the theoretical
model of New Generation Migrant Workers to be
industrial workers, as is shown in Fig. 1. Therefore,
there propose the following assumptions:
H1: The higher quality New Generation Migrant
Workers has, the higher degree of psychological
identification for the city that they live and work
they will have.
H2: The higher quality of the New Generation Migrant
Workers has, the better the economic foundation
of the city life they will have.
H3: The higher level of psychological identity the
New Generation Migrant Workers have, the better
adaptability to the social environment they will
have.
H4: The better economic foundation New Generation
Migrant Workers have, the stronger psychological
identity of becoming industrial workers they will
have.
Self-quality
Measurement on
Industrial
Workers
H1
H2
Ecomomic base
H4
H5
Psychology
identity
Fig. 1: The theoretical model
4758
H3
Social
environment
Res. J. Appl. Sci. Eng. Technol., 5(19): 4757-4761, 2013
Table 2: Analysis results of the reliability
Individual Psychological/ Economic
Measure index
factor
culture
factor
Cronbach’s alpha 0.81
0.84
0.87
coefficient
Social
factor
0.82
H5: The better social environment the New Generation
Migrant Workers have, the higher degree of
industrial workers the New Generation Migrant
Workers will be.
Empirical analysis: In this study, confirmatory Factor
Analysis (EFA) is used to carry on the analysis of each
variable. By Cronbach Alpha test, the validity of
variables is inspected. The questionnaire’s reliability
Table 3: Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)
Latent variable
Item
Self Quality
B11
B12
B13
B21
B31
B32
B33
B41
B 42
Psychology identity
C11
C12
C13
C21
C22
C23
C24
C31
C32
C33
Economic basis
D11
D12
D13
D14
D15
D21
D31
D32
D33
D34
D35
D41
D42
D43
D44
Social averment
E11
E12
E13
E14
E15
E16
E17
E21
E22
E23
E31
E32
will be optimal when the alpha coefficient is more than
0.9; above an alpha coefficient of 0.8, the reliability of
the questionnaire is acceptable; more than 0.7, the
questionnaire needs correcting; if below 0.7, the
questionnaire needs to be redesigned. Table 2 reflects
the specific test results.
The reliability of the variables is tested by
Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. In general, the reliability
will be high when the alpha value is between 0.7 and
0.8; if alpha value is less than 0.35, it will be refused.
The variables’ reliability is shown in Table 3. The alpha
value of each variable is bigger than 0.7, which
indicates that the variables have high reliability.
In order to verify the effectiveness of the variables
further, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) is used to
Standerd load
0.610
0.611
0.751
0.616
0.632
0.642
0.653
0.604
0.514
0.674
0.668
0.601
0.821
0.679
0.696
0.691
0.752
0.553
0.680
0.763
0.610
0.607
0.611
0.591
0.645
0.679
0.751
0.655
0.672
0.647
0.809
0.607
0.615
0.742
0.620
0.619
0.610
0.711
0.657
0.640
0.826
0.660
0.704
0.632
0.792
0.613
4759
Standerd deviation
0.175
0.107
0.192
0.092
0.151
0.230
0.196
0.110
0.210
0.094
0.123
0.092
0.161
0.211
0.115
0.239
0.164
0.226
0.132
0.132
0.191
0.094
0.052
0.109
0.134
0.093
0.122
0.157
0.149
0.142
0.166
0.195
0.103
0.184
0.129
0.197
0.127
0.142
0.139
0.157
0.120
0.120
0.111
0.158
0.169
0.150
T-value
5.125
5.858
6.312
5.373
4.246
4.145
6.468
5.246
5.622
4.881
6.062
4.056
4.949
6.046
4.818
4.530
5.330
5.965
6.337
6.714
5.589
5.174
5.131
5.151
5.874
5.219
4.345
5.549
5.007
5.864
6.500
4.987
5.645
5.660
6.930
4.619
4.511
4.365
4.571
6.962
4.060
6.437
6.363
5.566
5.388
5.290
Cronbache’s alpha
0.796
0.803
0.759
0.781
Res. J. Appl. Sci. Eng. Technol., 5(19): 4757-4761, 2013
Table 4: Entire fitting degree of the structural equation model (N = 164)
χ2
df
χ2/df
RMSEA
Main fitting index
470.95 230
1.68
0.067
Reference value
----<3.0
<0.080
RMR
0.05
<0.050
NNFI
0.916
>0.900
IFI
0.916
>0.900
CFI
0.902
>0.90
0.215
0.314
0.169
0.358
0.387
0.296
0.172
0.359
B1
B2
B3
B4
D1
D2
D3
D4
0.532
0.861
0.965
0.429
0.793
0.491
1.006
PNFI
0.613
>0.5
0.532
0.872
Self-quality
Econmic base
0.641
1.003
0.452
Psychology identity
Social environment
0.76
0.724
0.989 0.853
C1
C2
C3
E1
E2
E3
0.416
0.371
0.411
0.351
0.459
0.398
0.791
0.683
0.922
Fig. 2: Structural equation model and its paths
analyze the sample data by using SPSS and Table 3
(1)
η = Β η + Γξ + ζ
shows the results. Among them, the degree of freedom
is 185; forbidden error root is 0.064; non-normative
Measurement model is:
adapter index is 0.873; chi-square value is 291.63;
comparative adapter index is 0.913; residual root mean
(2)
y = ∧𝑦𝑦 η+𝜀𝜀
square is 0.056. The above data show that the results of
CFA are acceptable. According to Table 3, we can
(3)
x=
Λ xξ + δ
analyze that all the factor loading of the items are
bigger than 0.5 and each item’s T value is greater than
According to Table 4, the value of 𝑥𝑥 2 /df is 1.68
2, which indicate that the constructed validity of each
which
is less than the reference value; the value of
variable is good. Therefore, the data in this study can be
RMSEA
is 0.06 which is less than the acceptable
used for further research work.
reference value 0.08; the value of RMR is 0.05 which is
Structural equation model can deal with both the
equal to the reference value; the values of NNFI, IFI
latent variables and its indexes. Compared with other
and CFI are all bigger than the reference value 0.9; the
traditional methods, structural equation model can
value of PNFI is 0.613 which is bigger than the
process multiple dependent variables simultaneously;
acceptable reference value. In conclusion, the indexes
permit dependent and independent variables containing
of the structural equation model in this study have
measurement error and estimate its frame and factors’
reached the acceptable level mostly, so the entire fitting
relation. The structure of structural equation model
degree of this model is excellent.
includes measurement model and structure model.
By using statistical analysis software AMOS7.0 to
Measurement model is used to describe the relationship
analyzed
the model, the coefficients can be seen in
between indexes and latent variables, while structure
Fig. 2. According to Fig. 2, the 5 assumptions in this
model can describe the relationship among latent
study are all supported. Therefore, improving selfvariables. The concrete forms of structural equation
quality of the new-age peasant workers, enhancing their
model are as follows Structure model is:
4760
Res. J. Appl. Sci. Eng. Technol., 5(19): 4757-4761, 2013
psychological identity (mental acceptance), increasing
their economic income to make their life foundation
more stable and promoting their social environment are
all the efficient paths to drive the new-age peasant
workers to the industrial workers.
slickers constantly and their social circle is very
narrow. The household registration systems of urban
and rural areas lay restraints on the new-age peasant
workers to join some social activities and make the
social environment not good for their development.
CONCLUSION AND COUNTERMEASURES
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Strengthen the vocational education training. Many
experts and scholars have paid great attention to a
problem that the new-age peasant workers have lowerlevel professional skills. Their own quality is the main
factor restricting their career choice and development.
The government should improve the investment
mechanism of the training funds, increase the skill
training for the new-age peasant workers and establish
the joint cultivation mechanism of the government,
enterprise and training institutions. The industrial
structure of the region should be analyzed to grasp the
working requirements and demand quantity for peasant
workers. The cooperation system between the training
institutions and enterprise should be established and
stipulate the rights and interests and responsibilities by
the order training and output agreement. High quality
new-age peasant workers should have proficient skills,
strong ability to study the new technology, create
higher income for enterprise and make for cities’
economic development and stability.
Enhance
the
psychological
identification.
Compared with the citizens, the treatment of the newage peasant workers in the city is not good. They
always play the role of “the marginal people” and their
whole psychological identity about city’s life and
working environment is poor. In some sense, becoming
industrial workers is the best choice for the new-age
peasant workers, which is also the overall trend of our
social development.
Improve the labor intensity. Results of the research
in this study indicate that the labor intensity of the newage peasant workers in Chongqing is high which is easy
to form occupational disease in the long run and
aggravate the burden of family and society. Therefore,
the government should advocate the enterprise to make
a scientific and rational working plan to improve the
labor intensity. Workers can work in rotation when the
cases are quite a lot. Taking the appropriate rest time
can not only reduce the workers’ labor intensity but
also weaken their negative mood to improve the work
efficiency and reduce the working faults, which are
benefit to both enterprise and workers. The operation
process and steps also should be improved to reduce the
workers’ intensity.
Perfect the guarantee measures. The group of the
new-age peasant workers was discriminated from the
Project No. CDJXS 11110016, No. CDJZR
12118801 and CDJZR12110008 supported by the Fund
amental Research Funds for the Central Universities,
China. Project No.11BGL006 supported by the
National Social Science Foundation, China. Project
No.10YJC630039 supported by Humanity and Social
Science Youth foundation of Ministry of Education,
China. Project NO.CSCT2010AA2044 supported by
The Chongqing City Key Science Program, China.
REFERENCES
He, J., 2012. The intergenerational difference of
migrant rural workers' city integration in Jiangsu
province. Issues Agric. Econ., 1: 52-59.
Huang, J.W., 2012. Study on household intension and
influencing factors of migrant workers. Popul.
Econ., 191(2): 67-73.
Jin, C.F., 2011. An empirical analysis of human capital
of peasant workers and their urban living
integration: A case study of peasant workers in
Shaanxi province [J]. Resour. Sci., 33(11):
2131-2137.
Wang, Q.M., 2011. The path analysis of urbanization of
the new-age peasant workers based on the ERG
demand theory. Rural Econ., 10: 111-114.
Zhang, J.L., X.M. Li and L. Zhang, 2011. On the
citizen process and the spatial differentiation.
Chinese J. Popul. Resour. Environ., 21(3): 82-88.
Zhong, Q.L., 2011. The routing selection of the
urbanism of the new-age peasant workers-based on
the view of social organization development. J.
Anhui Agric. Sci., 39(33): 20736-20737.
Zhong, D.Y. and Y.R. Chen, 2012. The innovation
system to break the obstacles during the
urbanization of the peasant workers. Rural Econ.,
1: 103-106.
Zhou, M., 2011. The measure of urbanization degree of
new-generation migrant workers and influence
factors. Ph.D. Thesis, Shenyang Agriculture
College.
4761